The field of the invention is kitchen appliances and the invention relates more particularly to slicing guides for slicing bagels, rolls and other baked goods or other foodstuffs. Bagels are most commonly sliced by placing the bottom of the bagel on a counter top or bread board. Next, a knife is oriented so that its blade is parallel to the counter top or bread board surface and while the bagel is being held by the user""s palm against the counter, the knife is drawn back and forth parallel to the support surface to cut the bagel in two. Several problems arise from this commonly used practice. First, the cut is often not parallel to the bottom of the bagel since it is a somewhat awkward movement. Secondly, there is a safety hazard in that the user""s fingers can extend below the cut line. Alternatively, the bagel can be held so that its bottom is oriented vertically and the knife drawn back and forth in a downward directly. Once again, the position of the cut is often not accurate and secondly, the same safety hazard exists.
Several bagel cutters have been devised. Once such bagel cutter is shown in U.S. design Pat. No. 371,728, which utilizes a plurality of vertical pegs to hold a bagel and also two pairs of closely spaced pegs to guide a knife along a vertical path through the bagel. A bagel cutter using a guillotine style of blade is shown in U.S. design Pat. No. 315,275 where a bagel is placed between two vertical plates.
An electrical cutter is shown in U.S. design Pat. No. 378,972 where the bagel is placed in a compartment and an oscillating knife passes horizontally through the bagel once the door of the device is closed. All of these devices have shortcomings, either in the space required to store the device, the aesthetic appearance of the device, or the expense of fabricating the device. There is, thus, a need for an inexpensive, and yet attractive and compact, bagel cutter which is easy to use.
The present invention is for a cutting frame for holding an object such as a bagel to be sliced into two pieces. The frame has a base for holding a guide member and a support step is held by the base supporting a guide member which has a peripheral object support band. The peripheral object support band surrounds at least a majority of the peripheral edge of the object to be sliced which forms an object supporting compartment. The object supporting compartment has an open side and an objecting supporting side which contacts the bottom surface of the object to be sliced. The peripheral object support band includes a knife blade guide slot formed through the entire extent of the peripheral object support band. The knife blade guide slot extends into the support stem. Means are provided for preventing the object to be sliced from passing the object supporting side. Preferably, the object support band completely surrounds the entire peripheral edge of the object to be sliced. Furthermore, the device is especially useful for slicing bagels, in which case the guide member is circular in shape. The present invention is also for the process of using the guide member which includes the steps of inserting a bagel or other object having a bottom surface, a peripheral edge, and a top surface into a bagel support compartment of a bagel cutting frame. The bagel is held against the bagel support side of the compartment by pressing the user""s fingers against the top of the bagel and the user""s thumb against the bagel support side. A knife is grasped and its blade is guided into the knife blade guide. It is then drawn back and forth and pressed downwardly to cut through the bagel as the knife is guided by the support slot. Since the support slot extends into the stem, the bagel is completely sliced in two when the process is complete.